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I am going pike fishing on the St. Lawrence this weekend and need to know everything. How should I rig my tip-ups from top to bottom? How far under the Ice should I put them down? Treble or Straight hook? How big of Bait? Thanks guys.
# 12's, isn't that a little small?
put on a sucker and a steel leader.
I used to use #8's or #10's but now use #12's and mostly #14's on 3"-4" shiners hooked just behind the dorsal fin. The hook has less of a chance of being detected and spit out .The hook generally is not an issue in regards to breaking ,the line is,you can try a 20# floracarbon or nylon coated steel leader .Try them both and see what works for you ,some feel you get more flags with mono/flora than with steel but in general pike are pretty aggressive ,I'm no expert but have had more flags with mono and more fish on top of the ice with steel leader.the trick is getting them thru the hole in one motion and letting the run when they're not ready to give up yet .Remember it's all about the thrill ,so just have fun and keep the digits clear of those teeth .
How you guys feel about jigging the swedish pimples tiped with a shiner for pike? I'm not realy a fan of tip ups I like the idea of being able fight the fish on a rod and reel, but that just me.